Today, many construction materials come in the form of substantially planar panels or rolls which are unrollable into, essentially, planar panels. The construction materials are, in both cases, secured with appropriate fasteners and/or adhesives to the framing members, sheathing and/or decking of building walls, floors, ceilings and roofs. Such construction materials comprise, without limitation: (a) drywall, gypsum board, plasterboard, cement board, greenboard, blueboard, wood, and foam board for use in forming interior, and in some cases exterior, building walls and/or ceilings; (b) felt paper, underlayments, membranes, wraps, and other similar materials that are generally applied to sheathing and/or decking to protect underlying building materials from the effects of weather, to reduce the amount of air and/or moisture infiltration through a building's structure, and/or to provide insulation against heat and sound transmission; and (c) other similar construction materials. The term “wallboard” is used herein to mean and refer, collectively, to such construction materials.
When individual panels or unrolled rolls of such wallboard are positioned side-by-side in/on a building structure as is often the case, the panels or unrolled rolls define gaps, seams or joints therebetween and are joined together with tape, sealant, filler and/or adhesive substances to form a monolithic structure. The tape may be manufactured from paper, fiberglass, or other material, be woven or non-woven, and be or not be backed with an adhesive substance. The tape is, generally, applied over the gaps, seams or joints either by hand or through use of a taping tool. The sealant, filler and/or adhesive substances may include, but not be limited to, drywall compound, glue, caulk, resin, epoxy, and other similar substances that are collectively referred to herein by the term “mastic”. The tape and mastic may be used alone or in combination to seal, fill and/or hide the gaps, seams or joints and secure the individual panels or unrolled rolls together. When the tape and mastic are used in combination to hide a joint between pieces of wallboard, the mastic aids in securing the tape to the wallboard while being featherable away from the joint to cause the joint and tape to blend in and provide a smooth, substantially level surface with the wallboard to either side of the joint.
To apply, screed, smooth and/or feather the mastic relative to a gap, seam, joint, and/or tape, an appropriate finishing tool is selected and used based, at least, on the particular wallboard product, tape, and/or mastic being employed, and the location and orientation of the gap, seam or joint. In situations where the wallboard on both sides of a gap, seam or joint therebetween substantially defines a single plane, a finishing tool known as a “finisher” is often used to quickly apply a thin, uniform layer of mastic over tape covering the gap, seam or joint. A finisher comprises a partial enclosure having a slotted opening in the base thereof and that is filled with mastic. When the base of the finisher is placed in contact with two pieces of wallboard and moved over, for example a joint therebetween taped previously by a user, mastic exits the partial enclosure via the slotted opening, is applied in a layer of desired thickness over the taped joint, and is feathered to cause the tape to blend in with the wallboard on both sides of the taped joint. Typically, a round handle is coupled to the finisher to extend the reach of the user with the finisher and to allow the user to move the finisher over taped joints.
Unfortunately, the finisher may become somewhat heavy when filled with mastic and the finisher's shape/geometry can cause the finisher to become difficult to manipulate. For vertical taped joints, the finisher's weight and shape/geometry are not particularly problematic. However, for horizontal and other non-vertical taped joints, the user must hold the round handle in a non-vertical plane while moving the finisher over the taped joints. Due to the weight and shape/geometry of the finisher, the finisher sometimes becomes difficult to support and keep in appropriate contact with the wallboard while being moved over the horizontal and other non-vertical taped joints. In such circumstances, the finisher exerts a torque on the round handle, tending to twist the handle in the user's hands. In addition, the user may desire to maintain a constant angle between the finisher and handle while moving the finisher over the taped joints in order to apply a uniform layer of mastic and a constant angle may be difficult for the user to maintain. Consequentially, the mastic may not be applied over taped joints in a uniform, consistent manner and the user may be fatigued while attempting to keep the finisher in appropriate contact with the wallboard and at a desired angle relative to the handle.
Therefore, there is a need in the industry for systems, apparatuses, and methods that improve the control and/or usability of finishing tools or other similar devices, that minimize fatigue encountered by users during use of finishing tools or other similar devices, and that may address other problems, difficulties, and/or shortcomings of current technology that may or may not be described herein.